By Newsday Reporter
June 12, 2014 – newsday.co.tt
THERE IS to be swift action to recover the $34 million paid to a contractor in the Life Sport programme for work that was never delivered.
The money, paid to carry out Math, English and Modern Technology studies with a focus on numeracy and literacy, was issued in two tranches of $17 million each last year but there is yet to be a stick of chalk or blackboard as proof of this.
Continue reading TAKE BACK $34M
PM must say if she agrees
By Richard Lord
June 02, 2014 – guardian.co.tt
Former head of the public service, Reginald Dumas, is taking issue with a claim by the secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Satnarayan Maharaj, that generations of People’s National Movement (PNM) supporters were planted in the public service to prevent any non-PNM government from getting a second term. Maharaj made the claim during an Indian Arrival Day function hosted by the Maha Sabha in Debe on Friday.
Continue reading Sat’s public servants comment upsets Dumas
By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2014
The persons who orchestrated the racist placards that triggered a furore that lingers long after the protest-dust has settled do not belong to any “lunatic fringe”, as some politicians suggest.
They are perfectly sane, albeit devilishly motivated in their evil designs. Anyone with a modicum of sense could discern that the pro-Rowley placards were intended to have the extreme opposite effect—cast the PNM leader as a bigot, as being anti-Indian to the extent that he would display his venom openly, outside Parliament to boot.
Continue reading Fanning the race flames
By Raffique Shah
May 25, 2014
With Narendra Modi taking office as Prime Minister of India following a convincing victory in the month-long general elections, the world’s largest parliamentary democracy, India, stands at critical crossroads.
The close to 200 million voters who propelled the controversial Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power comprise in the main Hindu nationalists who see the country as Hindu first, anything else afterwards. But they were not the decisive elements that drove the Indian National Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty out of power in a humiliating rout.
Continue reading Whither India?
By Raffique Shah
May 18, 2014
Maybe he does not realise it, but by his untimely utterances and seemingly panicked posturing, National Security Minister Gary Griffith is fuelling fear among the populace.
Last Friday, according to news reports, rumours of an imminent coup triggered a virtual self-evacuation of Port of Spain, leading to the early closure of some businesses and traffic jams on roads leading out of the capital city.
Continue reading Rumours of War, Weapons of War
By Raffique Shah
May 11, 2014
After all the tears and anger and outrage and tributes and exhortations, what do we do? Dana is dead, gunned down gangland-style, making for good copy for a week or two, but what after that?
The politicians shed buckets of tears and scream: her death must not be in vain! The police vow to leave no stone unturned in their quest to bring her killers to justice. The preachers say she was an exemplar, her colleagues-in-law deem her irreplaceable, her friends say only good things about her, and her extended family mourns in a dignified manner.
Continue reading Dana’s death in vain
CONSPIRACY
By Jada Loutoo
May 08, 2014 – newsday.co.tt
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, says he is of the “unflinching view” that there is more than sufficient material in the ruling of High Court Master Patricia Sobion-Awai in the Jamal Sambury assault claim against the State to warrant a criminal investigation of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice and conspiracy to defraud the State of Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading DPP Orders Probe into Prison Litigations
Speculations continue in the aftermath of the killing of Attorney, Journalist and Law Lecturer Ms Dana Seetahal as a stunned nation continues to reel from the shock of her death.
Police reports now show that the weapon, which would have used the caliber of ammunition shells found on the scene, is used mostly by military personnel.
CCTV camera footage is being scoured at this time but it is being reported that the Wingroad vehicle used in the killing may have been fortified with bags of cement to prevent it from moving should she have attempted to ram the vehicle after it blocked her access.
Continue reading Gov’t $2.5M Reward, Amber Alert following Seetahal’s Murder
By Raffique Shah
April 20, 2014
The UNC minister or activist who mobilised a gang of hooligans to disrupt a public meeting staged by dissident Barrington “Skippy” Thomas last Thursday evening should be taken before the party’s firing squad and shot—with “goat pills”. He (or she) has done irreparable damage to the United National Congress’s image, if that is at all possible.
Continue reading Crucifixions and Resurrections